March 25, 2009

Ann gets engaged to one of her blog’s commenters
Is the internet full of shy, lonely men?
Are women always in it for the man’s money?
Ann accuses Obama of excessive frivolity
Should we be more freaked out about the economy?
Reviving the Althouse vs. BhTV commenter rivalry

I'll update with some juicy clips soon.

ADDED: The first clip, in which Bob speculates that Meade might be my sockpuppet. The clip ends with a surprising offer.

AND: I shock Bob with a very personal revelation:

AND: "All your commenters woo you, Ann."

AND: The test for how much you need to kiss in public:

IN THE COMMENTS: Mortimer Brezny said:

See? This is why Mortimer Brezny stopped blogging. He came on this damn blog to woo Ann into marrying him and all it got him was mockery from Trooper York and into flame wars with Simon Dodd. (For which I apologize, Simon.) Then some other commenter steals Mr. Brezny's idea and succeeds. I mean, all the defending I did of Ann was totally just a vain and pitiable attempt to get in the knickerbockers! Who cares about what Ron Bailey thinks! And it's Meade! Oh man, I could have put in so much less blogging effort! Gaaah! I mean, I threw Jessica Valenti through a plate glass window for Ann! And I broke her leg with a pipe! I mean, talk about full frontal feminism!

But at least this bloggingheads diavlog clears some things up. Ann is not dominant in her personal relationships. I guess that kills it, Simon. It kills it for me. I mean, I had fantasies, man. Mortimer had dirty, filthy fantasies. Mortimer came to the meetups to score, man! It hurts! The wooing I did here! The hardcore woo action that I put out here! I was devoting it up in here. I am fulminating with rage! Rage and fulmination and fire and brimstone! I mean, if I can't have Ann, no one else should! That is the cosmic rule, doesn't everyone KNOW that?

Anyway, I'm not a shy guy. I don't have any problems meeting women. I just use e-harmony. That's where the real sluts are. But, truly heartbroken. I am. Truly.

So: congratulations and stuff. To the happy couple. This post has all been performance art. Now I must go weep. And, I better get frontpaged for this crap.

Given the inherent anonymity of the internet, coupled with the made-up names of most commenters, it is quite a challenge to build a blog that turns into an extended conversation among people who slowly come to know and respect each other. Yet Ann has achieved that, and the uniqueness of her achievement is what keeps many (certainly me) coming back here. That it also led to her impending nuptials is an unexpected (at least for Ann, perhaps not for Meade) but perfectly natural way for things to have worked out.

All of Althouse's commenters "woo" her? That's absurd. There is the occasional request for a nude bloggingheads appearance...from Meade, if I remember correctly. Mild flirtation from one or two other commenters, but that's it.

Most of Althouse's commenters seem to respect her quite a bit, despite disagreeing with her on about half of all issues. Maybe if you respect a female, it's assumed by some that you're "wooing" her.

Well, you had a Diane/Sam relationship with your commenters: what held the bond together was the realization that it would never be consummated. A safe flirtation is as elusive as a happy marriage. Happily married women are the safest of flirts so maybe the male members of the commenteriat will remain status quo. However, I think there's a good chance that your posts will lose some of their subliminal flirtatiousness and will be less lively.....When someone dies, according to Tolstoy, the first thought is I am alive, and the second thought is how will this death affect me. An announcement of a betrothal generates a similar complicated mixture of good wishes and malice, of cynicism and sentimentality, of memory and regret. I wish you well, but I hope your posts don't lose that ineffable quality of reaching for the light.....Turing set out to crack the Enigma code and set in motion the wheels that caused your marriage. Your marriage will inevitably cause other wheels to turn and other gears to mesh.

I am curious who comes up with the titles to the BHtv posts. Is he (she?) subtly trying to tell us that he thinks that commenters are like an intestinal disease or do I just read too much into blog entry titles. Though the wiki entry does remind me that the romance in that novel was rekindled by a series of letters which does fit nicely with how Prof. Althouse characterizes the beginning stages of her courtship.

I went back and read that Grand Torino thread and realized, without the encouragement of a certain key commenter, this commenter likely never would have worked up the courage to follow up on a toss away comment/reply and actually make the date to take a certain blogger out for dinner and a movie.

I am eternally grateful to you. We shall name our first miracle child "knox."

See? This is why Mortimer Brezny stopped blogging. He came on this damn blog to woo Ann into marrying him and all it got him was mockery from Trooper York and into flame wars with Simon Dodd. (For which I apologize, Simon.) Then some other commenter steals Mr. Brezny's idea and succeeds. I mean, all the defending I did of Ann was totally just a vain and pitiable attempt to get in the knickerbockers! Who cares about what Ron Bailey thinks! And it's Meade! Oh man, I could have put in so much less blogging effort! Gaaah! I mean, I threw Jessica Valenti through a plate glass window for Ann! And I broke her leg with a pipe! I mean, talk about full frontal feminism!

But at least this bloggingheads diavlog clears some things up. Ann is not dominant in her personal relationships. I guess that kills it, Simon. It kills it for me. I mean, I had fantasies, man. Mortimer had dirty, filthy fantasies. Mortimer came to the meetups to score, man! It hurts! The wooing I did here! The hardcore woo action that I put out here! I was devoting it up in here. I am fulminating with rage! Rage and fulmination and fire and brimstone! I mean, if I can't have Ann, no one else should! That is the cosmic rule, doesn't everyone KNOW that?

Anyway, I'm not a shy guy. I don't have any problems meeting women. I just use e-harmony. That's where the real sluts are. But, truly heartbroken. I am. Truly.

So: congratulations and stuff. To the happy couple. This post has all been performance art. Now I must go weep. And, I better get frontpaged for this crap.

I had time at lunch to view the entire Blogginghead piece. The guys attempt at analsis is a hoot. He asks, "what are the components of love?" trying to reduce love to money. After we find out what gravity is made out of, then we may have a chance to find the components of love next. Bravo Professor.

I am worried about Simon though. I haven't seen him since the nuptials were announced. ;-)

He is probably furiously researching legal and constitutional ways to stop the marriage. He is also looking for anything, any shred of a comment on what Scalia would say or do about this travesty to his self esteem. :)

Re: Althouse's diavlog point about the more likable candidate always winning: While that's technically true, more people voted for the less likable candidate in 2000 (altho Bush probably would have gotten more votes than Gore, were it not for the DUI late hit).

I've only been following this blog regularly a little while and I still picked up on a definite tone of, oh, stylized flirtation, shall we say? Almost like knights and their lady during the Era of Chivalry and Courtly Love (Sir Archie being the most obvious example.)

@Lem Tags/Clicks: Andrew Sullivan posted a blog entry I emailed him venting about career fairs in his "View from your Recession". Weird. I've been a Sully reader since almost the beginning. I started the blog last week to vent anonymously about the experience. A few hits have straggled through even three link levels deep.

It's a very intricate selection process that requires use of a highly complex mathematical forumlas.

She spent the first two years scanning the comments for worthy Candidates.

Once she whittled the list down to 12 Suitable Prospects, she then created her own Personal Selectivity Index, and assigned a point value to each successive comment a candidate made for the next two years.

Each Candidate's score was rated on a scale of 1 - 10, and each Candidate's rank would fluctuate accordingly.

If a Candidate's Selectivity Index Rank fell too sharply, Althouse would simply go back to the comments section and make further evaluations, assigning point values to those prospective Candidates who came close to meeting her criteria.

That Meade came in twelfth on a list of Candidates mathematically ranked in meticulous fashion over a period of four years....isn't surprising.

What is surprising is how well the Selectivity Index perfectly matched Althouse's own exacting criteria.

Never before has mate selection been done with such scientific precision !

"I originally linked to that Sartorialist post and said I liked the pants."

Actually, I think you'll find that it was I who linked to that Sartorialist post, in a reply to a hilarious comment by Bissage having to do, I think, with pants. But Palladian is absolutely right -- in a desperate attempt to win your heart, I stole the photo for my avatar... AND IT WORKED!!

So hey, do we know yet which one is going to move? Will Althouse leave my beloved UW for, ugh, the U of Cincinnati? Can I have your house if you do? I've been wanting to move. Wait a couple of years though. Long engagements are still okay.

If Meade moves to Madison I can't wait to take him drinking at all my favorite dive bars. All my friend's wives hate me, and I see we already have that covered so to speak with your fiancee. I could take you on our annual Tour De Drunk this summer - a roughly 3-4 mile bar hopping extravaganza on bicycles. So whatya say Meade!

Love is a force that nurtures the two humans who open up to one another in a safe place for made for them. That safe place is called a marriage. In a marriage the two beloved persons can relax and share their secret selves and have fun in life without fear of betrayal. It's a great Tradition.

Yeahhhhhh....no I get that she's happy and I'm happy for her. Just something about the upper teeth. I'll just compare an old BH with the new one, and then either bring it up again, or be convinced that nothing's changed and let it go.

Meade, firstly, congratulations and may you and Ann live many, many happy years.

If I were Irish, I would think up an Irish blessing, but I'm of Scotch-Irish descent, and our people know nothing but cursing and fighting.

Now then, about Sir Archy, something must be done. Officer on parade and all that. Certain formalities must be observed.

Now Meade, since the noble Sir Archy was Best In Show, perhaps you could have him write up a Wedding Poem or somesuch to be read aloud at your Live Bloggingheads Wedding as the Pandagon/Pam's House Blend crowd murmber curses and mother oaths in the background.

There is, after all, only one Sir Archy. And an Althouse ceremony of some kind (whatever the lady of the house happens to desire) would not be the same without a contribution from the Best Sport.